Prescription Errors

As defined by the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCCMERP), "A medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature; compounding; dispensing; distribution; administration; education; monitoring; and use." According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there have been more than 95,000 medication errors reported since the year 2000. Although staff nurses and nursing service administrators (NSA) are trained to make sure that the “Five Rights of Delegation”—a check list of sorts, which was created to help nurses prevent potentially harmful or life-threatening medication mishaps— National Academies’ Institute of Medicine experts estimate that approximately 98,000 people die as a result of medication mistakes on an annual basis.

The said “Five Rights of Delegation” include:

• Right task
• Right circumstances
• Right patient
• Right direction/communication
• Right supervision/evaluation

Medication and prescription errors are not limited to doctors’ offices and hospitals, however. They also happen in pharmacies, nursing homes and assisted living facilities. If an individual is given the wrong medication or the wrong dose of a medication, for instance, the results have the potential to be devastating, or even fatal. If you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of a medication error made by a doctor or medical professional, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries and damages. Contacting a knowledgeable diagnostic errors attorney is the first step toward obtaining both the justice and reparations you truly deserve. With more than three decades of experience litigating all types of personal injury and wrongful death claims, including those relating to drug-related medical errors, the Miami medical negligence lawyers of Gerson & Schwartz strive to provide negligence victims with the exemplary legal representation so they may have a better chance at obtaining appropriate compensation.